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Urban And Rural Tourism

Gujarat is setting up an example for the other Indian states by bringing down the effects of Global warming and setting up a department exclusively for this purpose. This is the first department of its type to be set in Asia to provide better greenery to the tourists visiting the urban areas of the state. The project aims at developing parks, better plantation, and contributing to the ecological balance thereby reducing the effect of green house gas emissions.

The excellent development of the urban areas and outstanding infrastructure has influenced the tourists to visit this state. The rural tourism aims at attracting the tourists to the rural areas, some of the attractions of rural tourism include hiking, visiting ancient heritage museums, biking and shopping at village fairs for handmade crafts and items. There are numerous fairs and festivals organized in the state round the year. This is the main attraction for the foreign tourists; these fairs provide the skilled artisans an opportunity to display their talents. These concentrated efforts of the government have made the state boom in the field of tourism industry. Apart from these efforts appointment of Amitabh Bachan as the tourist ambassador has helped the people realize the beauty of the state. The crafts, handicrafts, arts and carvings of the state find excellent demand in the foreign markets. The advantage of visiting the rural areas is enormous. It gives an excellent scope to understand the bio diversity of the country and experience the culture, tradition, cuisine, handicraft and rituals which is not found in big cities and towns.

CM Initiatives

Shri Narendra Modi became the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001. He was very concerned about the plight of the tourism Industry when he took over. He could not understand why a culture rich state which houses one of the finest excavations which explain the arrival of Aryans (Lothal, Dholavira), some of the medieval wonders like (Somanth, Modhera), the abode of Lord Krishna (Dwarka), natures beauty (The gir forest, satpura ranges and Mandvi ) failed to attract the tourists. He then focused on making Gujarat the tourist destination in the country. The massive mission, excellent projects and vision of the Chief Minister helped in transforming Gujarat as the best tourist destination in terms of infrastructure, security and amenities.

Gujarat is an excellent place to visit for people of all tastes and likes. If you are a history lover you should visit lothal, the mythological places take you to the times of Lord Krishna and lot more. The colorful fairs, festivals, temples, beaches, forest all provide you a perfect recipe of Holiday destination.

Some of the ambitious interests of the Chief Minister have contributed in making the International Kite festival, satpura Monsoon festival, Rann Utsav, Navratri festival and Tarnetar fair a mega event. These fair have been attracting many tourists from both within and outside the country.

The bio diversity of the state of Gujarat can be witnessed when travelling from Mandvi to Saputara. The diverse culture, landscape, mountains, art, handicrafts, customs and cuisines makes the tourism in Gujarat a memorable event. Gujarat government is committed to make the tourism a memorable one for the people visiting the state. The government has allotted a large amount during its budget allocation to further enhance the tourism. The plan to develop 37 tourism destinations is in progress. Some of the ambitious ecofriendly projects include development of eco-trains, safaris, jungle accommodations, and ropeways.

The World Tourism Day marks the excellent vision of Shri Modi which has helped the state emerge as the favorite tourist destination for the people. Enjoy the vibrant, vivid colors of the state and make your trip a memorable one. Visit Gujarat.

Sports Tourism

  • Gujarat houses three of the finest International cricket stadiums of the country at Rajkot, Baroda, and Ahmadabad. Ahmadabad stadium hosts a number of IPL matches.
  • Hosting of IPL matches brings lot of revenues to the state as there are many neighboring states which do not have good cricket stadiums. Secondly the closeness to Mumbai is an added advantage.
  • Chief Minister’s ambitious project includes developing many golf courses, as resorts around the golf courses form excellent tourist destination.
  • The latest trend in sporting tourism is the weekend Golf culture. This is the new craze in India.
  • Gujaratis form the maximum percent of Indians settled abroad and golf is the favorite sport among the communities.
  • The government has sanctioned revenues and laid down elaborate plans for the development of new golf courses. But the construction of the resorts would take considerable amount of time.
  • The sport of shooting is also fast catching up. Sports enthusiasts throng the outdoor shooting ranges especially during the weekends.

Rural Tourism

The efforts of the Narendra Modi government have received a mega boost when the central government has accepted the proposal to develop ‘rural tourism’ in the state. The centre has cleared the proposal to develop the three villages – Malegaon, Dandi and Nageshwar as the rural tourist destinations. This is planned to be taken up similar to the Hodka village in Kutch district.

The Gujarat Tourism Corporation had sent proposal to develop eight villages as rural tourist hub under the RuralTourism InfrastructureDevelopment (RTID) scheme. Out of the eight villages three villages have been cleared. The Gujarat government is hopeful of the rest five villages Kankapura, Zinjhuwada, Navagam, Dholavira and Sasan Gir.

The RTID scheme provides a grant of 50 lakh each for development of the basic infrastructure in these villages. Another 20 lakh is granted for the training of personnel in activities of tourism, promotions, displaying their artistic skills and generation of employment opportunities.

Apart from the centers directions the TCGL has some elaborate plans to construct theme parks, water and adventure sports, accommodations, reception centers and eco-friendly mode of transport inside the tourism zone, it is also planned to organize small fairs where the artisans can sell their product and display their skills.

The RTID plan aims at developing the rural tourism of the country there by helping the rural people to conserve their culture and become financially, socially and economically developed. The self employment opportunities in their own native place would help the local remain with their own people without the requirement of migrating for employment opportunities. The tourists feel relaxed and experience a healthy life style by visiting the rural tourism hubs.

The Gujarat Tourism Corporation feels that the rural tourism has an excellent scope to attract large number of tourists. Some of the rural places have a sort of mythological or historical importance attached to it. Dandi is related to Gandhi and Shiva temple at Nageshwar near Dwarka is considered as one of the 12 Jyotilingas in the country. Malegaon in the foothills of Saputara resort in Dangs is considered to possess the rich tribal traditions and excellent bamboo art.

Urban Tourism

  • The total number of tourist influx in the state of Gujarat was approximately 8 million in the year 2004 which increased by 20% to touch 16 million in the year 2008. This rise in tourist visiting the state is much more than the national growth of 11%.
  • The number of international tourists visiting the state is further high and is above 45% at the same period of time.
  • Some of the favorite tourist destinations in the state are Dwarka, the abode of Lord Krishna, Ahmedabad the medical tourist destination and Ambaji. These places account for more than 30% of the total tourist influx in the state.
  • The statistics of tourists in the state indicates that approximately 80% of tourists visiting the state are from within the state. This indicates that the variations in influx of tourists from outside the state do not adversely affect the tourism in the state. Also the demand for tourism products would remain at all times.
  • As per the statistics the total percentage of international tourists visiting the state is 2% which is much higher than the 1% for the country. Also, the inflow of international tourists is steadily increasing at over 45% every year.

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